Improved apparatus for working ships  pumps



F. W. BOETTNER.

Apparatus for Working Ships Pumps.

No. 38,460. Patented May 12, 1863.

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. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS ROBERT BOETTNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,460, dated May 12,1863.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANCIS R. BOETTNER, of Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvementin the Application of Pumps to Ships and other Vessels and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a transverse verticalsection of a portion of a vessel, illustrating the application of myinvention. Figs. 2 and 3 are vertical sections, at right angles to eachother, of the valve-box and valve and pipe-connections, which constituteone of the most essential features of my invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

The principal object of my invention is to provide for the pumping ofthe bilge-water from all parts of a vessel, whether on an even keel orcareening over to one side or the other; and to this end my inventionconsists, first, in leading pipes in various parts of a vessel to onecommon air-tight chamber, with which the pump or pumps are connected,thereby enabling the water to be drawn directly from all parts of thevessel by one pump or set of pumps; secondly, in the employment withinsuch a chamber of a valve or valves so applied under the control of ahanging weight as to cut off from communication with the said chambersuch of the pipes leading from difi'erent parts of the vessel as mayhave their mouths left uncovered with water by the change of position ofthe vessel, and to open to communication with the said chamber such ofthe said pipes as may have their mouths covered with water, therebyinsuring the pump or pumps drawing water while any remains in thevessel, and preventing them from drawing air while any water remains.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

A represents a portion of the hull of a vessel B, a portion of the deck.0 is theairtight chamber, with which the pipes E F F, for collecting thebilge-water, are connected. This chamber is represented as supportedupon the deck of the vessel by means of three short pipes, eff, whichare connected with a suitable base, D, which is bolted to the deck B.The pipes E F F are connected in a suitble manner w.th the pipes eff.The pipe E is intended to run down alongside of the keelson, and thepipes F F into the bilge of the vessel on opposite sides. The pump orpumps are to be placed on the top of the chamber 0, or arranged in anyother convenient manner relatively thereto, for the connection of thesuction-pipes G with the said chamber.

The chamber 0 may be of various forms, and the valve H, which isemployed to open and close the communications between the pipes e f fand the said chamber, of various kinds. The said chamber is representedof the form of a horizontal cylinder, the axis of which is arrangedlengthwise of the vessel, and the valve H of the form of an arc fittedto a seat, which is formed for its reception by boring the saidcylinder, the said valve being attached by an arm, J, to a shaft, I,which is concentric with the said cylinder, and which works in suitablebearings in the heads thereof, one end of the said shaft passing througha stuffing-box in its respective head for the attachment to it outsideof the cylinder of the pendulons weight K, which keeps the valve alwaysat the bottom of the cylinder and below the shaft, whatever the positionof the vessel. The pipes c ff terminate in ports in the valve-seat, theport of e being at the bottom of the cylinder, and the ports of f and fbeing at equal distances from and on opposite sides of e, as shown inFig. 2, and there is a corresponding port, g,in the valve itself, whichis always kept by the weight K directly below the shaft. When the vesselis on an even keel, the port 9 is directly over the central port, andthe central pipes, e E, only are open, the side pipes, f F and f F,being closed by the valve; but when the vessel careens over to one sideor the other a certain distance, the port of the pipes f F or f F,according to the direction in which the careening takes place, isbrought under the port g, the central port being either wholly or partlyclosed, and the uppermost port in the seat, the mouth of whose pipe F orF is uncovered by the bilgewater, remaining closed.

In order to keep the valve in contact with its seat, notwithstanding anywear thatmay occur,

the valve is lit-trd to the arm J in such manner that aspring, L, coiledupon the said arm, may press it gently against the seat.

WV hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. Leading pipes from different parts of a ship or other vessel to onecommon chamber, 0, with which the pump or pumps or suctionpipe of thepump or pumps is connected, substantially as and for the purpose hereinspecifie 2. The employment, within such chamber O, of a valve or valvess0 applied in relation to suitablyarran ged ports,in connection with thepipes leading from different parts of the vessel, and so controlled byan oscillatory movahie weight, as to open communication between suchchamber and the pipe or pipe-s

